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HubSpot CRM vs Salesforce Essentials comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 19, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
6.2
HubSpot CRM boosts lead generation and revenue, with varying ROI and valued for efficiency, automation, and data security.
Sentiment score
8.0
Salesforce Essentials offers an efficient, user-friendly platform that accelerates sales, aids teams, and automates processes for quick returns.
The ROI was always in a positive direction.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
Users commend HubSpot CRM's timely support, though improvements like live agents and self-help access are needed for some.
Sentiment score
6.3
Salesforce Essentials is praised for fast, efficient support and reliable service uptime, enhancing user satisfaction and operational stability.
HubSpot's customer service is excellent and fast.
Many users give it only a couple of minutes before moving on, so there should be ways for quick, direct access and follow-up, which is currently somewhat challenging.
There is always an account rep that's available, and there is a technical account rep that is available for every account.
Their service and uptime is phenomenal.
Salesforce Essentials has excellent customer service.
I would evaluate their support and customer service with Salesforce Essentials as pretty decent, diligent, and to the point.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.4
HubSpot CRM is scalable for all company sizes, but some prefer pairing it with Salesforce for enhanced capabilities.
Sentiment score
6.9
Salesforce Essentials is highly scalable, supporting enterprise-level needs with flexibility, although some report connectivity and enhancement dependency issues.
Handling around 100 to 150 users is fine.
There are a lot of enterprises using it, however, even as a GTM for HubSpot, their target market is predominantly SMB.
HubSpot CRM is a scalable solution.
It is one of the most scalable systems available.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.5
HubSpot CRM is highly stable and reliable, with minor delays not affecting its excellent performance and integration capabilities.
Sentiment score
7.6
Salesforce Essentials offers stable performance, smooth SAP integration, minor bugs, and reliable uptime, ensuring minimal operational disruptions for users.
Salesforce Essentials has proven stable, with no downtime that affects my work.
 

Room For Improvement

HubSpot CRM needs improvements in customization, pricing, integration, UI, mobile app, support, automation, scalability, and subscription features.
Salesforce Essentials needs better integration, intuitive UI, competitive pricing, simplified automation, enhanced connectivity, and improved language support.
HubSpot should establish some pre-deployable packages that, when contracted, offer basic functionality.
A better CRM can be achieved by providing more customization features.
The response time is slow.
Instead of requiring users to think about system navigation and clicking procedures, they can simply follow a workflow that guides them through the process.
There are other competitors, like Zoho CRM, that offer similar features at a lower cost.
Salesforce Essentials operates in a table format where the entire user interface is based on tables, more specifically pivot tables.
 

Setup Cost

HubSpot CRM offers mid-range pricing with modular options but is criticized for limited advanced features and perceived high cost.
Salesforce Essentials is costly, but offers value through flexibility and add-ons, despite complex payment options and operational expenses.
The cost of running Salesforce Essentials is significant.
The costs associated with Salesforce Essentials are substantial, which is a drawback compared to competitors who offer similar services for less.
 

Valuable Features

HubSpot CRM is valued for its user-friendly design, seamless integrations, automation, customizable workflows, scalable features, and real-time reporting.
Salesforce Essentials offers cloud deployment, customization, AI, and mobile support, benefiting process optimization and data integration despite high costs.
HubSpot stands out for its ease of use, especially with sequence creation compared to other CRM solutions.
The most valuable feature for me is when I encounter a company or a person, I can drop in their URL, and it pre-populates various details like address information and other contacts they might have.
The feature that I find valuable is the customer 360-degree view and the marketing automation.
Their reporting and analytics features have a very significant impact on my company's operational efficiency.
Salesforce Essentials is excellent because it is one of the most flexible CRMs available.
It is very customizable to specific needs.
 

Categories and Ranking

HubSpot CRM
Ranking in CRM
5th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
49
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Salesforce Essentials
Ranking in CRM
15th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the CRM category, the mindshare of HubSpot CRM is 1.6%, down from 1.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Salesforce Essentials is 0.6%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
CRM Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
HubSpot CRM1.6%
Salesforce Essentials0.6%
Other97.8%
CRM
 

Featured Reviews

Charles Dickens - PeerSpot reviewer
Effortlessly manage relationships with seamless contact data integration
The primary area to improve is creating deployable packages. When I buy into HubSpot, I have a list of checks, however, I am left to figure out how to use it. I start with a budget, and it's just a persistent sales demand. HubSpot should establish some pre-deployable packages that, when contracted, offer basic functionality. It is important to be clear about what it doesn't provide or what else is needed. I can outfit myself with my own tools or other options as I evaluate the board. They are building businesses for themselves. However, there's always a limiting function encountered. Understanding limitations upon entry would be beneficial so I don't constantly stumble upon unknown constraints. A package covering everything in a particular area without requiring the entire purchase would be excellent.
Srini-Dhanaraj - PeerSpot reviewer
Manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues
I work from home for a heater manufacturing company. They wanted to move away from their current SAP CRM system to Salesforce. There is a fulfillment process, which involves taking an order, delivering it, and providing service. Salesforce is used to manage the order-taking process. Once an order is taken, the backend system, SAP ERP, handles product manufacturing, delivery, and installation. After installation, the Service Cloud in Salesforce takes over for ongoing service management. Once your order is confirmed, integration with the SAP ERP backend will be seamless. The system takes the sales order from Salesforce and starts processing it for procurement, starting with creating a production order, manufacturing, and then delivery. Once the product is delivered, this information is passed back to Salesforce Service Cloud. In the Service Cloud, a service engineer receives a notification indicating that a product needs to be delivered to a specific location for installation. The engineer then inspects and installs the product at the designated site. SAP ERP manages the product manufacturing and delivery processes. After the product is delivered to the customer, Salesforce Service Cloud takes over. It manages service requests and dispatches engineers to resolve issues reported by customers. Service Cloud captures the information and creates an incident record when a customer reports a product fault. Engineers receive this information and promptly visit the client site to fix the issue. The solution is easy to implement. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
13%
Performing Arts
11%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business39
Midsize Enterprise5
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise7
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about HubSpot CRM?
The best thing about HubSpot is its clear workflow. Anyone can understand the flows of your contacts, your emails, their delivery dates, and the reasons behind their movements.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for HubSpot CRM?
The cost is about the same price, currently charged monthly.
What is your primary use case for HubSpot CRM?
I use Segment, mainly Segment. We use CRM, usually HubSpot CRM. Some clients use HubSpot CRM and Zoho CRM. Different clients use different kinds of CRM, but we don't use them. We mostly focus on ma...
What do you like most about Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce provides the best they have with the current version. Most of the features we need are already there, and it's very easy to use.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Salesforce Essentials?
Salesforce Essentials is very expensive, but it delivers exceptional value. It is a good platform to have if you can afford it because it has numerous add-ons and modules. Anything that Salesforce ...
What needs improvement with Salesforce Essentials?
We use a limited number of automated workflows in Salesforce Essentials. The workflows we implement are designed to make sales teams' lives easier when executing certain tasks. Instead of requiring...
 

Comparisons

No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

digimind, easyrecrue, software2, subaru, suzuki
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about HubSpot CRM vs. Salesforce Essentials and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,095 professionals have used our research since 2012.